Dwarf Gourami Care Sheet

Peaceful, males can show some aggression in their territory especially during spawning but they don't really do any harm

Number of same species in tank

Two or more

Community Fish

Yes, with fish of similar temperament

Sexes

Males are much more colorful than females

Strata

Top to middle

Food

Flake food, blood worms and supplement with live foods

Breeding

Easy to breed

Breeding temperature

82.4°F or 28°C

Other names

Neon Dwarf Gourami for the original. Powder Blue, Neon Blue or Coral Blue Gourami for the blue variety and Sunset, Fire or Flame Red Gourami for the red variety

Scientific name

Colisa lalia

Lifespan

4 years

Ideal Conditions for a Dwarf Gourami

The Dwarf Gourami is another species from my tropical fish index. A few variants are available in Red, Blue and Neon Blue. The original has a light blue main body color with irregular red stripes running vertical over the body increasing towards the tail.

Appearance

The dorsal and anal fins are very prominent in size in relation to body size. The pelvic fins are very distinct because of its thin long shape.

Peaceful, Community

These are peaceful fish well suited to be placed with other smaller peaceful fish in a community aquarium setup.

Strata

They are fairly calm and shy fish that will explore all areas of fish tanks but mainly stay in the top to middle regions.

Feeding

In general they do well on flake food and blood worms supplemented with the occasional live food like brine shrimp.

Breeding

Breeding them is reasonably easy provided that you take some extra care. Isolating a pair of Gouramis in their own tank, supplementing their food with live food like brine shrimp and increasing the temperature to 80.6°F or 27°C should trigger breeding.

The male will build a bubble nest in which the eggs will remain until they hatch after about a day. After the eggs are laid remove the female and after the fry have hatched remove the male.

Lifespan

They can live for up to four years and beyond when they are kept in the most ideal conditions with regular water changes.